So This is Love?
by Senator Elizabeth Organa
Summary: Happens after Season 6 Finale: Partings. Lorelai and Rory have been gone for a month... JJ and Rogan! My First Fanfiction... Enjoy! Reviews are helpful and wanted!
1. Chapter 1

"Rory, you don't know what you are talking about… I can't go back." she said, sitting cross-legged on a brown wicker chair with a white cushion on a beautiful cherry wood deck.

"Mom, if you wanted to… you could. You **should**. Everybody thinks that you've been checked into some upscale mental institution and that you're suffering from a major mental breakdown! You **have** to go back!" exclaimed Rory, trying to coax her mother, Lorelai Gilmore, to go back to her life in Stars Hollow.

"Does this," Lorelai gestured to the scene around her, "look like a mental institution?" Rory looked around at the stunning orange sunset, the crisp blue waves beneath the sunset, the swaying beach grasses, and the warm comforting sand. Martha's Vineyard was very beautiful. "I know that you want to stay, Mom. However, we've run away for a month now! This sweet house on Martha's Vineyard is only a hide-away. I've got the paper, and you've got the Dragonfly. We just can't afford to stay—"

"Rory—don't. This is so much more complicated than you think." Lorelai exasperatingly said. She could feel tears coming on… and coming on quickly. She got up and sat in a different chair, rested her head in her hands and stared out at the reflection in the water. "Mom do you want to talk about it?" Rory asked.

Lorelai shook her head, and Rory left it at that.

* * *

Meanwhile back in Stars Hollow, Luke was sweating bullets. He didn't know how many calls that he had made to Lorelai in the past month, only to have every one reach her answering machine and mailbox.

Today had been an unusually light day at the diner and April wasn't supposed to come today, so Luke's mind had ample time to wander. Almost every time it wandered to Lorelai. It replayed the night when they last saw each other. Lorelai hadn't been acting in her normal fashion. _She had just come from her parent's. I should have known that she'd be down to her last button. And I pushed it. I was so mad. That wasn't a good night for me either. I HATE ultimatums,_ thought Luke, _I just wonder where she is…if she's ok… if she knows that I still love her_.

He concluded that the more he thought, the more frustrated he became, and the more trouble he got into. Already that month, he had broken a good lot of his dishes out of anger at himself. And then he realized that that was a stupid thing to do, because Lorelai wasn't there to help him pick out a new pattern for the diner. _She is the only one I know with a knack for things like that_, he thought to himself, chuckling a bit.

A few days previous, he had gotten a catalog from Kirk's new venture (his third this week) for dishware patterns. Kirk's girlfriend, Lulu, supposedly painted dishware now. Luke had a good mind to throw it back at Kirk and kick him out of the diner, but he didn't (which surprised Kirk). He just stood there looking at the catalog. He saw a set of 36 modern, bright colored mosaic porcelain plates. Kirk offered the set at $50.00. Everybody in the diner, including Luke himself, was surprised when Luke had handed Kirk a $50 bill out of the safe in the back and gave it to Kirk. "What?" he yelled across the diner and everyone went back to eating their food. Luke had been in a bad mood since Lorelai left.

Luke thought that the plates would be good to show April and Lorelai; especially Lorelai. April would like the colors and the pattern. And eventually, she'd probably measure all of the angles on the plates. She liked math… and science, which is how April found Luke. Luke thought that Lorelai would like the spontaneous-ness of picking out a random pattern… plus the colors would make her happy. Hopefully, it'd make her happier when she ate on them; _if _she would come back to eat on them.

Subconsciously, he gave the counter a wipe down. This was his habit. He was a habitual neat-freak. It was something that complimented Lorelai's lack of organization. Once again, his thoughts turned back to Lorelai.

They always went back to Lorelai. Sometimes his thoughts went back to April, but almost always Lorelai, his one true love, his soul-mate, his best friend, and the person who he _was_ going to spend the rest of his life with. He was determined to marry her; he just had to figure out how to get her back and win back her trust.

Luke loved her, he always had. Caesar went home and ten minutes later, Luke gave the counter a quick wipe, and went upstairs for the night and a beer.

* * *

The sun had already set and the stars had come out when Lorelai started to talk again. She had lost a lot of the color in her face over the past couple of weeks and her eyes had lost their trademark Lorelai sparkle. Whatever was bothering her had completely broken her; a break that Rory didn't think she could heal.

Rory had gone inside for about a half hour to make some spaghetti to eat and to fix Lorelai some chamomile tea with milk and honey to calm her nerves. She also flipped on the deck's light. When she came back out, she had a steaming mug of the tea. "Do you want to talk now?" said Rory, smiling a caring smile.

Lorelai looked at her and shrugged her shoulders. Rory handed her the mug, and sat near her mother on the closest chair.

"You ok?" Rory asked Lorelai.

"Yeah. I'm fine," she replied, "it's just been rough these past month, ya'know?"

"Don't worry Mom, it'll get better."

"How do you know? I've lost everything. I don't deserve to be happy. I let everyone down. Always."

"Let's get off of this subject, why don't we?" Rory said, trying to change the subject. She figured that this wasn't the best time to bring up Logan, and how her relationship was going with him.

Rory looked at her mother. Lorelai still had her engagement ring on; she loved that ring. _I've got to do something_, thought Rory, _I can't just let her sit her in a beach house. I've got to get her back to Stars Hollow_.

Reinforcements needed to be called in to get her mother back home. But not yet. She decided on calling her father and Sookie in a few days if she couldn't get her mother to agree to go home.

The ocean relaxed Lorelai. Ocean waves made such a soothing sound. _Everyone should just take time to listen to them_, she thought listening to the ocean and gazing at the stars. Rory joined her, "Ok. Well, we'll start at the beginning. Ok?"

"Ssh." Was all that Lorelai replied.

"Ok… we'll play 20 questions. I'll ask you twenty. Then, if you want, you can ask me twenty. Is that alright Mom?"

"I guess." she replied staring off into the distance.

"Ok," Rory threw her legs over the arm of the wicker chair she was sitting in, "number one; the most important. Do you still love Luke?" Immediately, Rory wasregetting that she had asked the question.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I hope you all enjoy this... I try my best to write something good for you all to read. :) **

**Thanks for all the reviews!** **I am in no way affiliated with Gilmore Girls or the WB.**

* * *

There had been a few minutes of awkward silence with only the sound of waves resonating in the air. Hot, salty tears slid down Lorelai's cheeks. She had put down earthenware mug of tea and drawn her knees up to her chest and was hugging them. Slowly Lorelai began to answer, as if it were breaking her apart. 

"Y… y… yes." Lorelai said, wiping her eyes with her soft white sweater sleeve.

"Ok, well that's good. I'm pretty sure that he loves you too. What happened after you left Grandma and Grandpa's?"

It took a while for Lorelai to answer, "Well… I talked to Christopher's date, but not intentionally… and she said to go after what I want. And I want to be married. I want the whole package—the whole enchilada. I want that. I want the dress—it's just mocking me now. Better yet, I want to **wear **the dress. I want the peach, white, and red roses. I want the yellow daisies and sunflowers. So I went for it."

"What does that mean?"

"I told Luke that we should get married—elope even…It was either then or never…" Lorelai got up and started pacing the deck, "I knew that it'd never happen. Maybe I'm destined to not be married. Maybe this is some punishment. What did I ever do?" she asked, looking up at the endless black sky. Her head started to spin a bit, and she went pathetically lip in a chair, breaking down completely.

"So what did he say?" _Maybe talking about it will make it better_, thought Rory.

"He said he needed time. So that's what I'm giving him. Time. It's just what the doctor ordered."

"You've given him time; everything time. You've got to go back, even if it hurts. We have a life there—not here. Though I do like it here…"

Lorelai wiped her eyes again, "He probably has forgotten about me… hell, he probably doesn't even know that I'm gone. Now he'll have the perfect opportunity to have the perfect family." _I've been second and or third in his life … now he'll be able to have the perfect family: April, Anna, and him_, thought Lorelai.

"Mom! You know that that is **so** not true! Is that what you really want?"

"No… It's not…" Once again, Lorelai's eyes filled with tears.

* * *

"Luke!" yelled April, waving her hand in front of Luke's face, coming back from filling the salt and pepper shakers. "What's goin' on?" 

"Nothin'. You done?" asked Luke, bringing his mind back to reality. Once again, it had floated off.

"Yep," April leaned up against the gray counter, "gimme something harder to do… please!"

"Well… what do you want to do?"

"Ooh! Ooh! Can I cook? Caesar told me he'd teach me! Please, Luke?" Luke gave the counter a wipe with a worn-out white terry towel.

"You're too young. You could get burned… sliced… or end up dead! No. Absolutely not. You can take orders." He handed her a small pad of white paper and a pen. "Fun! One question."

"Shoot."

"Are you ok?" April asked.

"I'm ok."

"Dad, you just seem a bit… distracted."

"Really?" asked Luke, leaning on the counter.

"Yeah. I've heard stuff. When do I get to see Lorelai again?" asked April enthusiastically. She thought that Lorelai was pretty cool—so did her friends. Lorelai hadn't been in the diner for a long time. She missed her.

"I honestly don't know, April." he said. She walked away to take Kirk's order. April was a natural people person; Anna just never gave her a chance to be a people person.

That's why April's time with Luke was different. He treated her like a normal kid, and not like a porcelain figure in a plastic bubble. _This is all Anna's fault,_ he thought, _if she hadn't been so damn protective of April, everything might be different_. _Lorelai would still be here… She'd bond to April. Everything would be ok._ Then he realized what she was thinking. _That's stupid, Danes_. _It's your fault for not telling her or letting Lorelai interact with April. **You** have to fix this._

"Hey April!"

"Yeah?"

"How about I take you home now?" He came up and put his hands on his shoulders.

"Um… Sure?" Luke took back the pad of paper and put it on the counter while April grabbed her things.

"Caesar! We're closing up," he turned to everyone else, "Out! Out! We're closed!" Kirk turned to Luke with burger in his mouth, "But the sign says 'open'."

Luke walked over to the 'open'/ 'closed' sign and flipped it to closed. "Now it doesn't."

"But I'm not done with my food!" said Kirk with a mouthful of food. Luke made threatening move toward Kirk, and he ran as fast as he could out of the diner. "Any particular reason, Luke?" Lane asked putting her pad of paper into her pocket.

"April, go out to the car. You guys know how to close up."

"Yeah, but you do know that you'll miss the dinner rush—right?"

"Yeah. Just close up. I'll be back later." With that Luke walked out of the diner and to his old dark green truck where April was waiting.

* * *

Luke's sudden departure just left Caesar and Lane standing at the counter, dumbstruck. _Something's going on_, thought Lane, _Luke never misses a dinner rush. It's only four o'clock._ She took off her blue waist-apron and hung it up. 

She cleaned off her glasses with her black Nirvana t-shirt that she liked to wear to work. _Oh well, if he's closing up early, then there must be a very good reason_. Lane didn't care much… it had nothing to do with Lorelai or Rory—they weren't here. If they had come back, the entire town would have already known.

Her mind flashed back to the past couple of months. Everything really hadn't been great since April found Luke and told him that he was her dad. Ever since then, Lorelai had been a third wheel. _Hell, she'd even seemed to be a fourth wheel_, thought Lane, stacking the chairs at the counter. Before Lorelai in Luke's life were Anna, and then April. It had broken Lane's heart to see Lorelai, who'd always been like a mother to her, treated so badly. _No wonder everything had ended like it did_, she thought once more.

_Why am I still here? Caesar can finish. I have to go home,_ Lane thought, putting down the stool, and heading home to Zach and to call Rory. "It's all yours Caesar!"

"Lane! Where are you go-ing? You can-not leave me here to close!" Caesar said in a heavy Spanish accent.

The diner's door jingled and there was no longer any sight of Lane. Caesar finished up closing and left to go home as well.

* * *

Rory's Sidekick rang. "Rory Gilmore..."

* * *

**A/N: I know that was a rough way to end it... but bear with me... :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**I didn't like how I had written the chapter, so I fixed it. And this is the replacement chapter! I hope you enjoy it! **

**Thanks to all those who reviewed! (I like reviews! They're helpful...) :)**

* * *

"Hey Ace." the voice on the other line said. Rory saw that her mother was asleep, and did not want to wake her, so she walked back into the beach house's living room. 

"Hey yourself!" she said back, "what's London like?"

"Boring without you."

"You flatter me, but I doubt that it's that boring!"

"You'd love it here… with all of the museums… palaces…"

"And you! I know I would love it there! I just wish that I could be there with you!"

"I'll tell you what, Ace… lock up the apartment and come join me. I'll wire you the money for the ticket. C'mon!" Logan enthusiastically over the phone, trying to coax Rory into visiting him.

"Um… well… soon, but not now."

"I thought that you would have jumped at the opportunity."

"I'm jumping; I really am! It's just…"

"You can tell me Rory. You can tell me anything." The warmness and caring in his voice made her go weak.

"My mom. Something happened between Luke and her. I don't know what yet. She won't talk. I don't think that I'll be able to do anything if she doesn't she talk."

"Maybe I'll come visit you." said Logan tenderly.

"Logan, you can't. I wouldn't ask you to leave and get in trouble from your father."

"I don't give a damn about this place, and my father can go to hell. What I care about is you. I want to be there for both you, **and** your mom."

"Really."

"Really. Were are you?"

"Martha's Vineyard. Mom wanted to stay at a beach house."

"How long have you been there, Ace?"

"Oh, about three weeks… which is why I have to get her out of here. We're only prolonging the inevitable. Mom's going to have to face Luke eventually. It's just a fact."

"How can I help you."

"I don't think you can."

"Can I at least get the address?"

"18925 Beachfront Ave. Eggertown, Martha's Vineyard. That should do, why?"

"Just wonderin'. Well, what are you going to do the rest of the night?"

"Hmm…" said Rory, "I think that I'll have a glass of wine, talk to my mom… talk to my mom… and sleep. The moon is very pretty, but it's really not that bright, so… a picnic on the beach is defiantly out."

"Too bad… It's pretty late there isn't it?"

"It's just about 11 o' clock. Well, I'm gonna let you get back to work. Night… er… morning!"

"Good night, Rory."

"Love you." she said, trying not to cry. She missed Logan **so** much.

"Love you too."

All Rory could do was smile as she hung up her phone. She grabbed her glass of wine and went back out to talk to her mom.

* * *

"Mom?" Rory gently shook Lorelai awake with her free hand. "We're gonna talk about this. We're going back tomorrow." 

"I know. I thought about going back tomorrow… but then…"

"Then?" asked Rory, trying to coax her mom into talking about the problem.

"I realized how complicated this is, and how everyone is better off without me." Lorelai said fidgeting with her hands as she spoke.

"Well, start after you left Stars Hollow. We got that far…"

"Um… after I left the diner, I somehow ended up in Boston at your father's," Lorelai was surprisingly collected, more calm and collected than she had been in a while, "The drive I don't even remember. All that I really remember is waking up without any clothes." She looked down at her hands, embarrassed.

"I'm going to call Dad."

* * *

Luke walked over to the refrigerator to get a cold Heineken beer and sat down on his ratty old arm chair in his ratty, old… worn-in and comfortable as Luke said… apartment above the diner. He one handedly removed the cap on the end of the table. _Boy what a night_, thought Luke slumping down into the seat. 

He was depressed… and then he was angry… and then he was depressed again. Luke couldn't decide what mood he wanted to be in. Then, he decided that he was both. Lorelai was gone… it was his fault… she had given him an ultimatum, and he didn't like ultimatums. _Damn it, Lorelai! Why did you do that? We were going to get married… just not now… Damn it. _

He set his beer on the sidetable, stood up, raising his hands above his head and slammed them down on a table, catching a plate with the edge of his hand. It broke into forty or fifty different pieces, slicing his hand. This made him angrier… he thought about what he had done wrong to lose Lorelai.

Looking for a bandage for his hands, Luke paced up and down through the apartment. Not watching where he was going, he tripped over something on the floor, and fell to the ground in a heap, twisting his ankle and landing on his wrist. Luke writhed in pain. What he had tripped over had been a wrapped gift from his sister, Liz.

The gift made Luke think of Lorelai… again.

His mind flashed to just a few hours before he ended up lying on the floor, when he dropped off April after closing the diner up early.

_Luke walked through the door of Ana's boutique; her house was behind it. "Bye Luke! See you Friday!" She reached up and gave Luke a kiss lightly on his cheek. He hugged her back. After, April ran to her room behind the boutique._

_Ana stood at the counter and stared Luke down, "You can go now. I'm sure that you have much more important things to do."_

_He stared back, angrily, "You know, Ana, I did. That was until you set the rules around here. That all stops here."_

"_Why, Luke, I don't know what you mean." _

"_The hell you do. Damn it, Ana, she's my daughter too!"_

"_Is that all?"_

"_No. You had to make it so damn clear that Lorelai was not to see April.You—"_

"_This is about **that** woman?" interjected Ana._

"_Who else do you think? April likes Lorelai. I **love** Lorelai. Hell, everyone likes Lorelai except you. You had to make Lorelai appear to be a transient in my life! She's anything but!" _

"_Ok. This has gone far enough. I have done just fine with April the last twelve years, without **you**," she came out from behind the counter, "I've carefully crafted a lifestyle which I intend to keep intact."_

"_You've rejected all of the things that I've done to help… yet only let me see April a few times a week… on your schedule; not on mine. **And **you won't let her see Lorelai."_

"_How can I put this lightly? I don't think I can. Lorelai isn't permanent. You two aren't married. I don't want April exposed to people and become attached to people who could leave…That's why April can't see Lorelai."_

_Ana hadn't noticed that April had come back into the boutique, or noticed that the few customers that were searching for purchases had abandoned the shop. She was so mad at Luke. "Mom! I like Lorelai!" April said with a dumbstruck look on her face, "But you know what, I like her more than I like you right now!" She ran off towards her room. _

"_All that I'm saying, Ana, is that I want to determine things in April's life. I want to know things. You know I have that right."_

"_Look what you've caused! I'm going to make sure that you never see April again!" Ana yelled as she was heading towards the house; however, what Luke said next made Ana freeze in her steps._

"_See you in court!" he yelled, slamming the door of the boutique behind him._

"_Fine!" Ana yelled back at him, with no avail; Luke had already left._

Back on the floor, Luke rolled over in pain, now seeing that his hand was bleeding worse. He got mad at Ana and how she thought that Lorelai was just a transient in his life.

Lorelai's face entered his mind. Luke loved her so much that it hurt, literally. He loved her so much that he felt broken because he lost her. _So this is what it feels like to be in love?_ he thought. Luke chuckled to himself. He wished that Lorelai would come back—so he could say that he was sorry and that he never wanted her to leave again.

Luke eventually fell into a painful asleep… a sleep full of jarring dreams.

* * *

"Hey there kiddo!" Rory's father, Christopher, said on the other line. 

"Hey Dad!" she replied, sitting in the living room in the house, far out of ear range of her mother.

"What do I owe the pleasure of this call? I mean, it's pretty late, even for Yale standards." Chris was trying to make his daughter laugh with his witty comment, but no laughing came.

"I need to find out exactly what happened with Mom about a month ago when she came to you that night…she doesn't remember…"

"Oh… that." her father said, his voice less animated.

"Yeah. That."

Lane dialed Rory's cell phone number. She could always reach Rory on that number… Ever since that night (that everyone in the town had heard of, thought about, and even acted out once in secrecy), she hadn't seen Rory except once; and that was when she had come to pack a few suitcases and take Paul Anka to Sookie's house, where he would no doubt be cared for well and fed gourmet doggy food.

She waited and waited for Rory to pick up… but she only got the busy signal.


	4. Chapter 4

**Well, here's Chapter 4 comin' at 'cha! I hope you enjoy it! Reviews are greatly appreciated!**

**A/N: I am in no way affiliated with Gilmore Girls or the WB.**

**This begins in continuation of Rory and Christopher's telephone conversation. **

* * *

"So… something happened." Rory said slowly. She couldn't believe that her father took advantage of her mother when she was in this condition… or she thought that that was what happened. Knowing her mom, she could have egged on whatever happened.

"Rory…" Christopher sighed.

"I knew it! How could you Dad! I mean, really! She was broken! You took advantage of her—" Rory was on the brink of crying, screaming, or both at the same time.

"Whoa there, kiddo! I didn't do anything to your mom. I'm better than that. Anyone who would take advantage of someone in Lorelai's state is just plain cruel."

"Okay… so… what happened then?" she asked more composed.

"Your mom showed up at my door. Okay?"

"Okay… continue please."

"She looked really upset—more upset than I've ever seen her—or anybody for that matter. I tried to have her sit down, but she went right for the liquor cabinet. And hat does she emerge with? A bottle of aged dark Jamaican rum and tequila."

"Sounds like mom." Rory commented, turning over and laying on her stomach.

"Yeah. So… I try to take the bottles away from her, but she instead takes them and gets two shot glasses—one for each of us. When I finally get her to sit down and stop being hysterical, she pours a shot of rum and tequila for each of us. Oh, I think that in all, we went through about a quarter of each bottle—so, two shots of each. She tried downing a third, but instead, ended up getting sick."

"So mom got sick?"

"Really sick. She ran to the bathroom, and made it—but not to the toilet. She threw up on the floor and got some onto her dress. Finally, she scrambled, and lost the rest of her booze and dinner in the toilet—I just held back her hair. That's pretty much the only physical contact that I had with your mother all night. I promise."

"So… explain the 'no clothes' part." Rory suspiciously said.

"After she got sick, I helped her clean up her face and her hair—her clothes were still on, Ror—and then I let her go into my bedroom and get changed. I let her pick out one of my shirts and undress. Before she could get changed fully, I guess she just kind of—fell asleep. I covered her up with the blankets, and tried to leave the room. She asked me not to leave her—almost in a whimper, so I stayed until she fell asleep… and I ended up falling asleep—end of story."

"Well. Thanks for taking care of her, Dad."

"Just for the record, Ror, I would never ever do anything to hurt your mom."

"Understood. Love you, Dad."

"Love you too, Ror."

"Bye." Rory said as she hung up the phone.

Her mom walked inside. "Feel better?" Rory asked her gingerly.

"Yeah. What happened?" Lorelai asked her, coming to join her on the couch.

"You don't remember?"

"Hun, all I remember is barfing my guts up and seeing through a sea of… I think it was…"

"Tequila? And rum?"

"That's right."

"You fell asleep before you got changed—hence no clothes. All Dad did was tuck you in. You asked him to stay with you, he did."

_He's always been there for me when I have _no_ where else to go. Chris is a good friend,_ thought Lorelai. "Ready to go to bed?" Rory asked her as she turned to walk up the stairs.

"Yeah. I'll be right there." she replied, turning off the lights and following Rory up the stairs.

* * *

Early the next morning, a large crowd of Stars Hollowans gathered outside of Luke's Diner, which still remained closed. As soon as Caesar got to the diner, there was mad rush towards the door.

_Everybo-dy wants my pancakes this mornin'_, thought Caesar, happy that he was appreciated. It was just the contrary. Everyone in Stars Hollow had heard about Luke closing up the diner early. "What is going on?" asked Caesar.

"Why's the diner closed?" asked Kirk. "Ooh! That'd make a good t-shirt! The Diner's Closed!"

"Shut up Kirk!" Miss Patty loudly said and turned to Caesar, "When will the diner be open sweetie?"

"I don't know." Caesar said as he walked through the crowd, unlocked the door, and went inside. The diner was unusually quiet. Nothing was on—no stove, no microwave, ant the coffee maker wasn't even on. That was especially odd. _Where is Luke?_ Thought Caesar, going to start up the grill, stove, and the most important thing in the diner—the coffee maker.

It wasn't the biggest deal if Luke was not there. The first thing that Luke had made sure that Caesar had known was how to open the diner. He could do it.

The nosy townspeople still mobbed the diner. Caesar would open in ten minutes—whether Luke was there or not.

* * *

Rory heard the doorbell ring. She muttered something indistinguishable, and rolled over...

Her mom had had another round of crying late the previous night, and come into Rory's room to talk. Lorelai had fallen asleep next to Rory on the bed. So, because there was no room on the bed to roll over, Rory had rolled the other way and ended up rolling off the bed and flat onto her face on the hard wood floor.

She stood up, yawned, and put went down stairs. The doorbell rang again. "I'll… ugh… be right there!" she said in a grouchy voice that was missing it's morning coffee.

Slowly, Rory sauntered down the stairs, tripping once (and sliding down a few stairs), and turning on the lights in the foyer.

"What!" she yelled, at the person at the door, the sun blinding her.

"Special delivery for Rory Gilmore!" the person said in a cheerful voice. The voice was familiar, but Rory was too tired to place the voice.

"Just sit it there on the table." She turned and went back up to bed, only this time she went into what was Lorelai's room. She heard the door close, and fell back asleep easily.

Lane had the early shift. She hated the early shift at Luke's.

When she got to the diner, Lane saw that it was unusually busy. _The town must have heard about Luke closing up the diner early_, she thought as she walked in.

As she did everyday, Lane took her worn waist-apron from a peg behind the counter and looked around. All of the town gossips were there. Kirk was there too. Where was Luke? It wasn't like him to not be at the diner.

First Luke closed early yesterday, now he wasn't even at the diner. Could Rory and Lorelai be back? _No_, Lane thought, _I would have known about it within the hour if they were back_.

One of the customers came and paid their bill. _Damn it_, thought Lane, immediately regretting the thought, _the cash machine is out of quarters and dimes. Luke should have some in the safe_. "Caesar, we're out of quarters! I'm going to get some!"

"Okay, Lane!" he replied, flipping pancakes.

* * *

Lane walked up the stairs to Luke's private apartment. It's where the safe with the money was. She hated going and getting money out of that safe.

When she walked into the room, she quickly made sure that Luke wasn't there—if he was there, he probably wasn't in the best of moods, "Luke?" Lane heard a moan on the floor and looked around. There was a few overturned beer bottles—one still containing the alcoholic substance—broken plates on the table (one more that Luke had to replace because of his anger), an overturned gift wrapped in blue paper with a silver bow, and a pair of feet. _A pair of feet?_ thought Lane, cautiously walking over to where the feet were.

"Luke!" she said, trying to wake up her boss. His wrist and hand were blue, and his hand was laying in a small pool of blood. Luke's ankle also didn't look that great—it was blue and looked like it had swollen; just like his wrist did. He was in bad shape. It didn't even look like Luke was breathing

Lane picked up a cordless phone and called 911. "911 Dispatch: What's your emergency?" the person on the other line asked.

"I found my boss, and he looks hurt really bad. I think he's breathing, but I'm not sure. Hereally needs help."

"Ok. Can I get your location?"

"Luke's Diner, Stars Hollow."

"We'll get an ambulance on its way."

"Thank you." Lane hang up the phone and went to see if Luke was indeed breathing. After she saw that he was breathing… and drooling… Lane went downstairs to wait for the paramedics.


	5. Chapter 5

**I am in no way affiliated with Gilmore Girls or the WB. **

**Thanks for all the helpful reviews! (I enjoy getting reviews:) )**

**Enjoy! (_Leaves off after Rory's gotten a package (see Chapter 4))_**

* * *

Rory rolled over andbumped into something warm. She didn't remember anybody being in bed with her. _Maybe Mom came back… no…she's still asleep…_ The person put their arm around her waist. Rory opened her eyes.

The person spoke, "Hey, Ace." Rory wasn't quite awake, so she ended up rolling onto the floor, for the second time that morning. "What did y… where did you… how did you…" stammered Rory. She started backing up to the wall, believing that the person she saw—Logan—wasn't real. _It's a ghost_, she thought.

He got up off of the bed and walked over to her and put a finger up to his lips as a sign not to scream. Logan put his hands on her shoulders and pulled her into the biggest hug he could manage. Rory melted, for the first time, she started crying—and hard.

Rory had missed Logan—she just hadn't realized how much. He felt her crying in his arms and rubbed her back, telling her that everything was okay, and kissed her lightly on the top of her forehead. Rory wiped her eyes and looked up at Logan, and laughed a bit. "You okay, Ace?"

"Yeah. Just a lot of stress—you know?"

"Yeah. I figured that you were under a lot of it right now… so… I brought you a gift."

"What? This is enough of a gift." Rory said, not wanting to let go of Logan, just incase he would leave again.

As if he could read her mind, Logan said, "I'm not going anywhere, Rory. Don't worry. Your gift is downstairs."

Rory let go of Logan and hurried down the steps. He watched her face as she saw her gift. On the table were two big baskets. She marveled at the contents: slippers from Nordstroms, a cotton-terry bathrobe, Chanel sunglasses, Bath and Body Works bath stuff (in her favorite scents: Vanilla Blackberry and Vanilla), Chanel make up and perfume, candles, many classic books (she'd probably read them, but it was really nice), CDs, a beautiful vintage teal dress complete with matching shoes, and gift cards to Victoria's Secret, Barnes & Noble, Nordstroms… the list went on forever.

She saw the second basket. "Did you do what I think you did?"

"Get a gift for your mom?"

"Yes! You did! Ahh… that's so sweet of you." She happily skipped to Logan and gave him a kiss that steadily got more passionate. "I love you." Rory said.

"I love you too. So, how do you like the gift?"

"I love it! It's just what I need… only there's one problem…I won't get to use it to relax while we're here. We were planning to leave today. Mom's going back to Stars Hollow, and I'm going back to Hartford."

"Ok, well… I'll go with you."

"Wait—You should go back to the apartment. Get comfortable, you know, visit with Colin and Finn. I'll be there soon."

"Ok, Ace, what's the real reason?" He asked, sitting on the stairs and pulling Rory with him.

"You know… I just don't Mom to feel bad because we're doing great, and her and Luke aren't. I just fear that it'd make her feel bad."

"Aah… I see. I agree."

"You do?"

"Yep. I'm going to go to the apartment. See ya later." He gave Rory an affectionate peck on her forehead.

"Oh, I almost forgot," said Logan, handing her a white Styrofoam take-out box, "these are for you and your mom. I didn't think that you'd eat well here. Eat a good breakfast."

"What is it?"

"Chocolate chip pancakes with scrambled eggs on the side."

"Yum. Thanks."

"No problem. I'll see you back at the apartment." He gave her a quick kiss, opened the door quietly and left to go back to Hartford.

Rory sighed, still holding the box in her hands. She was glad that Logan was back for now.

She headed upstairs to check on her sleeping mother.

* * *

"Congratulations, Mr. Danes," a doctor said holding up two x-rays, "You have hairline fractures in your radius and ulna."

Luke sat on the examination table, starting to come back to reality (the doctor had given him 50 cc's of morphine to take the pain away after he got out of the ambulance), and feeling the immense pain in his wrist (and the moderate pain in his ankle).

The doctor continued, "You have some how managed to have a moderate sprain in your ankle. I'll send the nurse in to bandage your hand and ankle, and I'll be back in a few minutes." Luke looked down at his arm as the doctor left the room. He groaned, _great; there goes my favorite shirt,_ Luke thought. (His shirt had been cut up to his elbow so his arm could be x-rayed). A nurse came in loaded down with a set of crutches, a bucket of plaster of Paris, a bunch of colored gauze, and three ace bandages. He groaned, this looked like it was going to be extremely painful.

"Is this going to hurt?" he growled.

"No, sir…" the blonde haired nurse replied.

"Good."

"If you stay still…" she added with a smile, "how about we talk about something to take your mind off of what I'm doing?" The nurse walked over to his chart in a plastic container on the door, "Says here that you received 50 cc's of morphine. You must have been in some pain…It should just be wearing off."

"It is." The nurse walked back over to Luke, and gingerly put a splint under his wrist. "Hold this please." she told him, "what's your name?"

"You didn't get it off of my chart?"

"Didn't look."

"Luke. My name is Luke. What's yours?" He asked her in a groggy manner.

"My name's Lindsey. So, Luke, what did you do?"

"I tripped… broke a dish with my fist…landed on my hand."

"You must have a lot of anger." Lindsey let Luke remove his hand from the splint as she put wet plaster onto it.

"Not really. It's a long story."

"We have time. I still have your ankle to do. What color do you want?" she asked holding up a rainbow of colors.

"What's the standard?"

"Well, that'd be blue." She replied putting the rest of the colors down and picking up blue. "Now, what's the story?"

"My fiancée… Lorelai… we got in a fight. She wanted to elope…"

"Mm hmm…" Lindsay mumbled, attaching a sling around Luke's neck, and putting his arm into it gently. She then raised his ankle up and wrapped it in an ace bandage.

"It was either that or we'd never get married… I love her so much… and I hate ultimatums. So, I didn't answer, and I haven't seen her since. I remembered all that happened and the reasons why they happened… and I got mad—smashed the plate—and then walked around my apartment—maybe I had had too much beer—and fell over a wedding present from my sister. The end."

"Wow. What a story. You're done, Luke. Here is your crutch, and the doctor will be here in a few minutes to check up on my work." Lindsey removed all signs that she had been there. Soon the doctor came back in, and brought his prescription pad with him.

"I see that you are all patched up."

Luke nodded and added, "Your nurse is nice."

"Lindsey? Yeah, I suppose she is. She's relatively attractive too. I'd ask her out, but she's dating some shmuck in Boston. Now for your meds."

"Wow, you all are close." Luke remarked, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand.

"I'm going to fill this out for you. I'm going to give you Vicadin for the pain. Take ½ to a full pill a day—but no more. The amount you take will depend upon how much pain you are in." The doctor handed Luke the prescription paper, and shook his free hand, "Take it easy, Mr. Danes. And I mean that."

"Wait!" Luke called after him, hobbling pathetically while trying to manage walking with one crutch, "Can I get a car?" _Lorelai would normally come to get me. That is if she was here. And if she was here… I wouldn't be **here**,_ thought Luke.

"Sure. I'll have Lindsey call you a taxi." With that, the doctor walked into another examination room. Luke slumped into a chair while Lindsey called a taxi.

* * *

"Mom?" Rory asked, gently waking her mother up.

"Huh? Hun, what are you doing?" asked Lorelai, stretching her arms and yawning. She sat up, and Rory handed her a cup of strong coffee. Lorelai took it gratefully and stated drinking it in large gulps. "This tastes different."

Rory nodded, "It's Bolivian; supposedly it's better… and I thought that you deserved a bit more caffeine this morning. It should perk you up."

"Thanks, babe." Lorelai hugged her daughter. They both got up off of the bed went downstairs for breakfast.

For the past month, Rory and Lorelai had only been surviving on cereal and microwavable meals (and the **occasional** meal that Rory learned to make). This month Rory had begun to be a mediocre cook (cooking spaghetti to a cake out of a box).

"There's something there for you, Mom." Rory said, taking the take out box to the kitchen.

"Wow, Ror. There's two here." Lorelai gasped and put her hand to her mouth.

"Oh, yeah. There's one for me and one for you." Rory put the divided the pancakes and eggs onto two plates and put the first into the microwave. "A good breakfast before we hit the road, right?"

Lorelai answered in a distracted air, "Yeah. I guess." She came and sat at one of the barstools at the island, waiting for her breakfast with her glass of coffee in hand.

The microwave beeped, and Rory took out the first plate of food and put in hers. She walked over and set it down in front of her mother. "I have to tell you something."

"Sure. You can tell me anything." Rory leaned on the counter in front of her mother.

"I…I… I…" The words just didn't want to come out of Lorelai's head. _What will Rory think? What will Luke think? I've just got to spit it out_, she thought while stuttering. "I… I think I'm pregnant." Lorelai blurted, looking down ashamed of herself.

"What!"

"I think that I'm pregnant." Lorelai repeated in a lower whisper.

"Mom, that's great! Now we defiantly have to go! I'll go pack! I can't wait to hear what Luke says! We should—"

"Whoa, babe, slow down. We probably should go… but Luke…"

"What about Luke?" asked Rory while getting her breakfast and sitting across from her mother.

"Doesn't know."

"Oh. That's potentially problematic."

"I want to be the one to talk to him, though." _That's if he still wants to talk to me_.

"He'll be excited. I mean, he's a softie—however much he'll deny it. Do you want to talk to Luke?"

"I guess. It's just…"

"You can tell me, Mom."

"It still hurts."

Rory stood up and gave Lorelai a big hug, "I know, but it'll all be better soon. You _should_ talk to him He probably wants to talk to you. And chances are—he loves you just as much, or more, than ever."

"What he did still hurts, y' know?"

"Yeah, Mom, I do. But that's what forgiveness is for." Lorelai nodded, and they finished their breakfasts. "Let's go get packed."

"Let's go get packed." Lorelai replied, and walked up the stairs hand-in-hand with her Rory to pack for the trip home.


	6. Chapter 6

**Well, Let me first start off by saying that I do not own anything nor am I associated with the WB or Gilmore Girls (why do people have to put these disclamiers anyways? they seem kinda pointless) :) **

**Thanks to all those who reviewed--reviews are helpful and much appreciated:) Read, Review (if you want),and Enjoy Chapter 6!**

* * *

It had taken Logan about an hour and a half to get back to his and Rory's apartment. When he got there, it was seemingly a long elevator ride up.

After the elevator lurched to a stop, Logan hobbled out (his leg was still in a semi-cast) towards the door to the apartment.

Opening the door, Logan was in shock; the apartment was immaculate with the exception of the living room. There were books strewn over the couch and the loveseat, the coffee table had a pile of textbooks (they looked like they were pre-med) and other books that could probably be as tall as his shoulders.

Logan had a hunch, _Unless Rory's planning to change majors... those aren't hers._ He rolled his eyes and said in a bored voice, "Hi, Paris."

Paris sat up, her dirty blonde hair in a mess and with ink on her face (it looked like she had written something on her hands and then proceeded to sleep on them; the ink transferred to her face). "Studying?"

"No, I'm sitting here watching _Breakfast at Tiffany's_ and eating imported Belgian bon-bons," she replied sarcastically as she could and threw her book onto the floor, "yes, I've been studying."

He pointed to her cheek, "You have something right about... there." Paris got up and ran to a mirror, "Not again!"

"What Paris?"

"I slept on my hand... damn."

"You'll make a great cheat sheet for the other students in your class."

"Are you joking? I can't take my final looking like this," she exaggerated, walking around in her typical agitated walk, "no. I've got to go home and scrub my face." She wheeled a little red wagon (that you see little kids toting around) in from the bedroom and started loading her books into it. Logan stood and watched her, trying not to burst out in laughter.

After all of her books were loaded, Paris started pulling the wagon with both of her hands. "Tell Rory I say 'hi'," she said stopping, "nobody needs to know about this, right?"

"Right. And Paris—" Logan added as she was turning to leave.

"Yeah?"

"Don't forget the turpentine."

She stopped again and looked him angrily, "Damn you, Huntzburger. Wait—No. Go to hell." With that, Paris pulled her little wagon through the door to the apartment.

"Nice seeing you too, Paris." Logan said, and plunked down onto the cushy leather couch to close his eyes for a few moments; but before he did, he looked at his watch to see the time—it was just about noon.

* * *

It had taken Rory about an hour to put all of their belongings in Lorelai's gold jeep. She had left her car at the Dragonfly. A month earlier, Rory had gotten a strange call from her mother late at night:

_The telephone's ring resonated through the large apartment. Rory turned over, mad at the phone for ringing and looked at the clock—it was 11:21 PM. She picked up the phone reluctantly "Hello? Who's there?" she asked in a groggy-morning voice. _

"_Rory?" the person on the other line said._

_Rory sat up and turned on the bedside table lamp, "Mom? What's wrong? Where are you?"_

"_I'm ok..."Rory could hear her mother trying to put up a facade._

"_No, you're not. Where are you?"_

"_I'm at the Dragonfly."_

"_You're not home?"_

"_I can't be there right now."_

"_Why not Mom?"_

"_There's just too many memories."_

"_So... you're staying at the Dragonfly?"_

"_Uh-huh."_

"_I'll be right there." She turned back the covers and packed some clothes in a Prada over-night bag that her grandmother had sent her for Christmas. Rory didn't want such an expensive gift but only received, "Nonsense. Every proper young lady your age should have a designer handbag," from her grandmother. _

_So she accepted the bag and put it in her closet. This is the only time that she ever had intentions of using it. _

_With her pajamas still on, Rory grabbed her keys, the bag, and a pair of sequined flats from the closet and went to her car to drive to the Dragonfly. _

"Mom! We're ready to go." Rory said as she put the two baskets into the backseat of the jeep.

"Okay, I'll be right there." Her mom walked out of the house and looked at it longingly from its front step. "There's a lot of memories here." she said sadly. For the past month, hers and Rory's lives had been like they were before she went to Yale and before she even started dating Luke. _Not that I regret it. I love him; I only hope that he still loves me..._ Lorelai sighed. They had spent many nights watching movies and eating junk... probably not the best thing to do... but they did it anyways.

Now, they were going back to ahome where Lorelai dreaded returning to; a home with so many memories. When she did return, the rumor mill is bound to be at full force. She hated the rumor mill, and she was going to be prime subject #1.

Lorelai and Rory piled into the over-stuffed jeep, and hit the road.

"Everything will be fine." said Rory trying to cheer up and reassure her mother that going back to Stars Hollow was doing the right thing.

_I know that it's the right thing to do... I just don't want to_, thought Lorelai.

* * *

The entire town tried to find out what happened to Luke's wrist and ankle. He was hobbling miserably around the diner and looked miserable. (He got angry at the crutch and dropped it into the dumpster in the back of the diner through the window in his "apartment".)

First, Patty had come to offer help and tell him to rest (hoping to see something that would lead her to the truth), but Luke just growled back at her, "Go away Patty." She obliged and took a seat back with the rest of the town superiors. _Are they having a nut convention today?_ thought Luke every time he passed their table.

Next it was Taylor's turn. "Now, young man, you should be resting, especially after your attempt atsuicide. I know that Lorelai's not here," the mention of her name (especially by Taylor and the others) brought on a wave of anger to Luke, "but that's not the way to handle it. You should remember that you—"

"Out." Luke said slowly with fire in his voice. "Out. Go away before I throw you out myself!" Taylor got the hint and ran back to the table.

"Way to be blunt Taylor." said Patty, chastising his assumption.

Taylor leaned in and whispered, "Definitely attempted suicide."

"No!" Patty gasped.

"Yes. Why would he get so mad? I must have been right."

"I guess so." Patty got up from the table and hurried out the door, telling everyone around her that the reasons for Luke's injuries were attempted suicide.

Luke had had enough. He hobbled over to the table, "All of you nuts, out! Now! Get out!" All of the town's major gossips left, not wanting to deal with Luke, even in his injured state. _That's better_, he thought to himself, sighing a sigh of relief, when all of them were gone.

Noticing that the calendar was behind a day, he ripped off yesterday's page and immediately wished that he had left it on there for another day: today was June 3. This hit him like a brick. Luke had never felt like crying before, but now he did. _Today Lorelai and I would have started our lives together, but then I had to act stupid. _

He remembered promising himself to call an attorney to get joint-custody of April, butthat could wait until tomorrow.

A single tear came down his cheek. Not wanting anyone to notice that he was excessively depressed, Luke wiped it off on his sleeve and went back to wiping down the counter. From the moment that he turned the calendar's page, he knew that an ominous, depressing air was going to hang over him for the rest of the day.

* * *

As Lorelai drove, Rory thought about when she got to the Dragonfly.

_In the car she had already called Sookie, who said that she would meet her there. Sookie had had no idea that Lorelai was at the Dragonfly, what had happened, and why her best friend was seemingly having a nervous breakdown. _

_Lorelai had made Rory a key to the front door of the Inn, not thinking that it'd ever come into use. That key was what Rory used to get into the locked front door. She closed it quietly behind her, leaving her car and her bag out in the parking lot, and went behind the desk. She searched the log book to see which rooms were booked and which were not. _

_Looking through the vacant room keys, Rory found one that was missing—Room number 5. Not only was 5 her mom's lucky number, but that was her favorite room; it was on the second floor and over looked the beautiful fields with daisies and roses as well as the stables with her most beloved horses. Quickly, Rory jotted a note to Sookie telling her where to come and stuck it into the door._

_Rory walked up the stairs to Room 5 and knocked on the door. "Mom? Are you in there?" She heard footsteps, and the door opened to reveal her Lorelai with her eyes bloodshot from crying and looking like she hadn't slept—only cried. "How did you know that I was here?"_

"_Well, you said that you were at the Dragonfly. I did a bit of investigating downstairs and found that room 5's key was missing. This is your favorite room. It was a brilliant deduction if I do say so myself." Rory said, trying to cheer up her mom by acting like Sherlock Holmes. _

"_Good work Watson." Lorelai replied, getting the joke and smiled a bit. _

"_Can I come in, Mom?" she asked as Lorelai nodded her head. Just as they were about to go inside, Sookie found them. She was out of breath. "Hey sweetie." Sookie said, enveloping Lorelai in a big hug. "How are you doing?"_

"_I'm ok..." But Sookie new better. That special Lorelai twinkle was gone from her eyes. She was more depressed than Sookie had ever seen her before. All three of the girls went into Room 5, where they piled onto the bed. _

"_What's wrong, Sweetie?" asked Sookie in a caring manner; she was really worried about her best friend. Lorelai shook her head violently in opposition of talking about whatever was making her upset. Understanding what she was silently saying, Sookie replied, "It's ok. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. Here's something funny—I thought that you would be in the stables, but you were here! So I ran. You know I can't run…" They all laughed a bit._

_Rory picked up the remote and found a pay-per-view movie, and turned it on. Soon Sookie had an idea, "If you are as upset as you are tomorrow, after I make you all a big breakfast, why don't you go back to your house and pack a few things and go on a vacation? Somewhere like Martha's Vineyard."_

"_I think that that's a good idea, Mom."_

"_Me too. It's settled," she joined hands with Rory, "we're going to Martha's Vineyard."_

"_I'll find somewhere for us to stay tomorrow." Rory said. Sookie, Rory, and Lorelai had a sleepover in the room and watched movies. Halfway through their first movie, they all fell asleep together. _

_Rory got up early the next morning to look for a place to stay in the Vineyard. She found the perfect house on the beach, called the owner to say that she wanted to rent it until further notice, and when given an approval by the owner, gave the address to Sookie. "Don't tell anybody. Don't even tell Jackson." said Rory, trying to keep their escape a secret from the town. _

_After a marvelous breakfast (what else can be expected from Sookie) at 6 AM of pancakes, waffles, eggs, toast, scones, muffins, and coffee, a broken hearted Lorelai and an excited Rory said goodbye to Sookie with a big hug. _

_They drove to Stars Hollow in Lorelai's jeep (in the dark so they would not be seen) to the house to pack a few things and to take care of Paul Anka. As Lorelai packed, Rory (or "Sugar-toes" to Paul Anka) quickly put Paul Anka on a leash and took him over to Sookie and Jackson's. She gave him a big hug from her and her mom and ran home. _

_Only a few minutes later, the lights in the house went off, and Rory and Lorelai left, not looking back at the house that they had temporarily abandoned._

"Do you think that anyone but Sookie knows where we were?" asked Lorelai, as if thinking about the same event.

"If they did, don't you think that a) it would have spread like wildfire, and we would have gotten many more telephone calls and visitors, and b) don't you think that out of those visitors Luke would be the first to show up on the door step?" Rory replied.

"I guess you're right kid. I'm still don't want to go back."

"I know, Mom. But if you didn't, don't you think you would have driven usdown some other road, and not on theone that leads directly through Hartford. While we're there we should--"

"Speaking of which, I'm notready to face my parents yet. I don't think I'll ever be able to. So, if you're thinking what I think you're thinking in that Yale-educated brain of yours, forget it."

"Wasn't thinking of that." said Rory, "I'm going to call Sookie and tell her that we're on our way home."

"Call the Dragonfly instead—I don't want anyone to know thatwe're coming back. We'll wait until like eleven to go back into town."

"I'll call the Dragonfly, but you know that your scheme's is not going to work."

"What?"

"The whole 'We'll wait until like eleven to go back into town' thing. You'll be spotted before then. The town probably has someone sitting outside of the Dragonfly like La Foo in _Beauty and the Beast_. They'll know that we're back."

Lorelai looked at her daughter, avoidance had become the name of the game, "Then we won't enter through the front—that's what the kitchen door is for." Rory sighed and leaned back in her seat. She thought about how the hour was going to pass to the time when they get to the Dragonfly, Logan, if her mother was still upset...

Rory picked up her phone and dialed Sookie's number, "Hi Sookie. It's Rory."

"_Rory? How are ya' sweetie?"_ Sookie asked on the other line.

"I'm good. I have good news." Rory said. Lorelai thought that Rory was going to tell Sookie about her possible pregnancy, and shook her head at her, "We're on our way to Stars Hollow. I think that we're going to stop over at the Dragonfly."

"_Really? That's great! I'm so excited! I'll have to redo the menu! Let's see… pot roast and macaroni and cheese, pie, chocolate pudding, and apple crisp! You guys will have a feast fit for kings!"_

"Would anybody expect anything less from you Sookie?"

"_No, I guess you're right. Say, is your mom there?"_

"Yeah; she is. Do you want to talk to her?"

"_Sure."_

Rory handed the phone to her mother. "Mom, Sookie wants to talk to you."

"_Hey sweetie."_ Sookie said to her best friend over the phone.

"Hi." Lorelai replied.

"_You okay?"_

"I'm ok." Rory could still sense how sad Lorelai was and how much she was dreading going back to Stars Hollow, where she was watched like a goldfish in a bowl.

"_Are you looking forward to coming back?"_ she asked, hoping that Lorelai would say 'yes.'

"Honestly, Sook, I don't know what I'm feeling right now..."

* * *

**Well, I hope you enjoyed it... I do have a question (for details later on)... Does anyone mind if I make Jason seem like an even worse person than he is? Thanks for reading! I shoud update soon...**


	7. Chapter 7

**Another chapter up... yay:) Sorry that it has taken so long for me to update. I couldn't think about where I wanted to go. Darn it. But eventually, I found that path for this chapter, and yay! it's here! I hope you all enjoy it! As always, please Read and Review. Reviews make me happy. :)**

**Now for my favorite part-- I wanted to thank you all for reviewing. Here's my replies to the reviews from Ch. 6!**

**_Ghostwriter626- I want Jason to be a bad guy figure sometime later in the story. _**

**_cmonace- Thanks for the review! _**

**Enjoy the chapter!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything. Hmm... wait... Nope. Still don't own anything.**

* * *

Sookie and Lorelai's conversation carried on for about a half hour about little details, things like 'How was the beach?', 'How did you all eat?', and 'Did you have any visitors?' Rory sat and watched the road go by. 

Soon, her mother hung up Rory's cell phone and went back to concentrating on driving. Rory closed her eyes, waiting for the time that they had left until they got to the Dragonfly to pass.

Rory thought that Lorelai didn't want to talk about everything that had been going on (again), and she didn't want to call Logan (with the chance of her mother hearing and getting upset once more) to tell him that instead of coming to the apartment, she was going to go stay with her mom in Stars Hollow for a few days. Her mom would need it; especially when it came to protecting her from the great gossips of the town. _Not that she can't protect herself from them_, thought Rory, _they can just be a bit much at times_. _At times? Try all the time_.

Plus, who was going to bring Lorelai her morning fix from Luke's. Lorelai could manage the coffee pot at home, but after she'd brew some, she'd definitely frown and stick out her tongue at the coffee cup. Nobody could make coffee like Luke; not even Sookie. The only coffee that Lorelai truly found pleasure in drinking (and her coffee addiction) was Luke's. And with her mom in the current condition she was in, not wanting to socialize with Luke, how would she get the coffee?

Slowly, Rory drifted off to sleep.

* * *

"Luke?" The voice came from the doorway. Luke was in the back doing inventory (for the fourth time that day) and anything else that could help him take his mind off of the date, his feelings, things that he didn't want to think about, and Lorelai. Quickly, maybe a bit too hopeful, Luke hurried out. He stopped suddenly and thought about the voice, _that voice is too young to be Lorelai's_. His heart sank. _Why would she be coming to see me anyways? I was so stupid to hurt her like that_. 

He wiped his hands with a dish cloth and walked out to talk to whoever it was. Standing looking around for him was April. "April? What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to come and say hello, so I hopped on a bus and I'm here. Ta dah!"

"Wow. I'm glad to see you, but isn't you're mother worried?" Luke walked up to her and gave her a hug, as awkward as his hugs could be.

"I don't care. She doesn't want me to come and see you anymore, and that makes me mad, so I got a bus pass. You'd be surprised at how many busses run through Stars Hollow."

"Hold on. Your mom doesn't want me to see you anymore?"

"Yeah. She says that I'm going to develop bad habits from you. But I say that is preposterous."

"You're right there kiddo. Say, do you want to help out a bit before you go home."

"That depends. Do I get to cook? Something?"

"Nope. Still want to help out?"

"Yeah. I'll take orders. The salt and pepper shakes seem to be in good shape."

"Okay." Luke handed her a pad of paper and a pencil, and told her to watch what Lane does. She turned to walk away, "You okay?"

"Never better." He tried to force a smile. Luke could tell that April wasn't going to buy it.

"Well... I'm here if you want to talk about anything." She said in a suspicious tone and walked off to take orders, watching what Lane was doing.

Luke walked back over to the counter and wiped it down a few times. _I wish that Lorelai would walk through the door_. He took a box from underneath the counter and started filling up the doughnut platter—anything to keep his mind off of what he didn't want to think about.

* * *

The next time the car came to a halt, Rory woke up with a jolt. "Rory, sweetie wake up." Lorelai was gently nudging her shoulder. "Wh—Where are we?" Rory replied in an I-really-don't-want-to-wake-up-right-now voice. 

"We're back at the Dragonfly."

"What!" Her mom got out of the car and sighed a heavy sigh. "Why am I back here?" she asked herself. Slowly, Lorelai sauntered and sidled to the back door of the Dragonfly.

Rory got out and rubbed her eyes. After her mom went inside, Rory took out her phone and called Logan. _He should be at the apartment, if not out with Colin and Finn,_ Rory thought. On the first try, Rory heard Logan pick up the phone at the apartment, " 'ello?"

"I can see that that month in London is starting to kick in."

"Ace, is that you?"

"The one and only. How's your leg feeling?"

"It's ok. It's been better. What's up?"

"I'm not going to be able to get to the apartment tonight or for a few days. I'm staying with Mom in Stars Hollow."

"That's okay. I hope that you have a good time."

"You can come down and join me if you want." Rory said walking about the lawn.

"I just might do that. I've heard that The Dragonfly is lovely."

"You know, it is. I'll see what I can do. I'll call you back."

"Talk to you later, Ace. I love you." Logan replied. Those last three words touched Rory's words profoundly.

"I love you too. Bye." Rory hung up the phone and walked towards the Dragonfly's back door.

* * *

"Lorelai!" Sookie yelled as she put down her pan and towel and gave Lorelai a big hug. "Hey hun, I still need to breathe." 

Sookie quickly let go, "Sorry." She quickly looked Lorelai over. The month had taken its toll on her. She was paler and that special and unique "Lorelai-sparkle" was gone from her eyes (almost everyone noticed this). "Sookie?"

"Yeah sweetie?" replied Sookie as she went back to what she was doing.

"Can you not tell anyone that I'm—"

"Alright, vere iz ze?" stormed Michel in a heavy French accent as he came into the kitchen, interrupting Lorelai.

"Here." Lorelai finished her statement in a whisper. Michel came up and started wagging his finger in her face, "You! You! Do you know vat you've left with all ze rezponzibilities ven you decided to up and leave! You left me vith the stupid employeez. They are so annoying. I did not have free time. I didn't even have time to play vith Paw-Paw. Chows are so temperamental when you do not play vith them. I even missed Celine Dion!" His rant was funny for a few moments, but then it got tiring.

"If you want to continue, please do it out in the lobby, because I'm tired of your crap. Good bye." He shut up, pouted a bit, grabbed a grapefruit and walked out of the room. "Are you going back to your house, sweetie?" Sookie asked, chopping up sweet potatoes for fries.

"Nah. I'm going to wait until dark and then go back. I don't think that I can handle the town gossips yet."

"I see. Well, you're welcome to help out."

"You forget—Lorelai + kitchen bad." Lorelai said as she made an X with her pointer fingers.

"Oh, yeah. That's right." As Sookie finished that statement, Rory walked in and headed to Lorelai, "Mom, do you think that I can talk to you?"

"Um, sure. See ya later Sookie."

"Bye. I'm glad that you both are back."

"We are too." Rory and Lorelai said in unison and headed out the door into the lobby.

* * *

**Sorry that this was so short. Plot bunnies caught hold of me and wouldn't let me go--so therefore, no ideas. Hmph. :pouts: I hope that nobody found it to be too bad though. Sorry if anybody did. I'll try to update soon to make up for the delay. **

**Reviews much appreciated:) **


	8. Chapter 8

**I'm finally resurfacing, and for you're enjoyment... I've revamped and revised and added to Chapter 8/9, forming one big chapter. I'm not quite sure where I want to take this with the goings on of the current season, so if anyone has any ideas, I'd be happy to hear them! Just drop me a review!**

**As usual, I don't own anything (aka. Characters), but I do own the plot line. :)**

* * *

"What's up hun?" asked Lorelai, when her and Rory were out in the lobby of the Dragonfly.

"Um…" Rory started, still debating whether or not to tell Lorelai that Logan was back, or that she really did want him to join her in Stars Hollow—a place that he'd only heard about, and never seen (well, except for that brief limo ride to drop her off). "Ror—Just spit it out."

"Okay. Logan's back." she said.

"That's great. How long is he back?" Lorelai asked, happy for her daughter. This time, in the relationship department, the apple obviously fell far from the tree.

"I don't know. Maybe for a few days, maybe for a few weeks." Rory shrugged her shoulders.

"Is that all, hun?" her mother asked, not understanding why this was such a big deal.

"No. I was wondering if Logan could stay at the Dragonfly."

"Sure, but if you want, he just come and stay at the Crap Shack."

"Mom, are you sure? That'd be awesome if he could."

"Rory, it's not a big deal. He's never been to Stars Hollow, right?"

"Right."

"So what's the big deal?" asked Lorelai, going to the desk to sort through the mail. Rory followed her, "I didn't want to upset you more than you already were. I didn't want to make anything worse."

"Rory. I'm fine. I'm okay." Surprisingly, the mail was sorted and the necessary bills had been mailed—probably by Sookie or Michele.

"No, Mom, you're not. What about the baby?" Rory asked, authoritatively.

Quickly, Lorelai put her finger to her mouth, "I don't even know if I'm pregnant."

"You have to get a test done, and soon." Rory said.

"Fine. I will… Later." Lorelai said now occupying herself at the front counter. Rory looked at the clock and rolled her eyes, it was only 7 PM. They had to wait at least another four hours before they could go back into town—most people are asleep around 11 PM. She walked into the kitchen to lend a hand to Sookie; heaven knows, Rory wasn't any better in the kitchen, but over the past month, she'd gotten better and was a willing and rapid learner.

Lorelai also looked at the clock, _four hours to go_, she thought. _Just incase there is somebody up, we'll take a cab_. _I'm just not ready to see anyone yet_. _I wonder how Paul Anka is_… She left the desk and went back into the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee and to find out about how Paul Anka was.

* * *

"Hey Sookie." Rory said as she walked back into the kitchen.

"Hey sweetie!" Sookie replied, "what can I help ya with?" She stuck her finger in a sauce occupying a large sauce pan to taste its potency, "Needs salt and a bit of pepper. What do you think?" Sookie held up a wooden spoon full of the sauce out to Rory. She tasted the sauce, "You're right. It does need salt and a bit of pepper."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. Actually, Sookie, I was wondering if I could help out. Maybe something simple?"

"Um… something simple… how about chopping some onion or maybe some chives? Or both?" Sookie chuckled.

"Easy enough. Sure." Rory said as Sookie set up a chopping board for her and handed her a duller knife as well as a handful of chives and two white Maui sweet onions. "When you get done, sweetie, just put the chives in this bowl and the sweets in that bowl."

"Okay." Rory hit her temple with her hand and remembered that she had to call Logan back. She dialed his number and pinned the phone to her shoulder with her ear, and began to chop the two ingredients.

"_Hello?"_ Logan asked on the other side of the line.

"Hey there." Rory said happily, trying not to chop her fingers as well.

"_Hey yourself, Ace."_

"I told you that I was going to call you back."

"_Your word's good in my book."_

"Guess what I'm doing?"

"_I don't know. Reading? Studying? Shopping?"_ Rory scraped the chives into a small glass bowl.

"No. I'm cooking."

"_Cooking? Ace and cooking, that's new."_

"Yup. I have good news." Rory picked the first onion up and started chopping it.

"_What's that?"_

"You can stay at the Dragonfly, or you can stay at the Crap Shack with my mom and I." she said as she put the onion into a different glass bowl, and the started on the second.

"_Sounds good. Crap Shack?"_

"Our house. We didn't know what to call it, so we named it 'Crap Shack'. It's home, though."

"_I see. Put me down for a room at the Shack."_

"Will do. What time is that for, sir?"

"_I don't know, surprise me. When are you guys getting back?"_

"There. I'm done," said Rory as she scraped the onion into the onion bowl with the other onion, "Around 11. And…"

"_I'll be there." _

"You know the place right? Wait. I know the answer to that."

"_Yeah, Ace. I do. I'll see you later." _

"Bye, Logan." Rory hung up the phone and went back to helping with cooking. Sookie was a wreck, because right about now was the dinner rush; she needed all the help that she could get. _Helping Sookie will use up a few hours_, thought Rory as she handed the bowls to Sookie. She dumped them into a sautéing pan, "Thanks Rory!"

"Hey Sookie, what else do you have for me to do? Is there anything else that I can help with?"

"There's lots." Sookie said as she abandoned her pan and gathered up three bell peppers for her to chop just as Lorelai walked through the door.

"Hey Lorelai. What's up?" Sookie asked.

"Sook, what do you have my kid doing?" Lorelai asked watching Rory with amazement while she chopped up the red, yellow, and green bell peppers.

"Cooking. She wanted to help. Do you?"

"Huh," Lorelai asked, "Me in a kitchen? Not a good idea."

"Yeah…" Sookie replied.

"I was wondering, could we get Paul Anka tonight? I'm going to need a friend to cuddle up with. How is he?"

"Sure. He misses you two. Paul Anka's really good with kids. You can come over and get him when you guys go home. When is that?"

"Oh, tonight. After the sun goes down."

"And Taylor, Babbette, Patty, Kirk, and hopefully Luke are asleep?" finished Sookie.

"You got it, babe." Lorelai replied walking back out the door and into the lobby.

* * *

The remaining four hours passed by boringly. At around 10:30, Lorelai had called a taxi to come and take them back to their house. She and Rory were just going to leave their cars at the Dragonfly. It was easier, and the town gossips didn't come in contact with the Dragonfly very often. And if they did since they had left, they wouldn't be able to find Rory and Lorelai's cars; they were parked behind the stables—a place where the town gossips would almost certainly not look. Luke, maybe, but the gossips would never look there.

Sookie had left around 9 o'clock, and told them to drop by to get Paul Anka when they're on their way through town; Jackson and the kids would be in bed, but they should stop by anyways, according to Sookie.

"Ready?" Rory asked Lorelai when the taxi was there.

"Not really, but it's something that I have to do. I guess that I'm ready as I'll ever be."

"Let's go." Rory took her mother's hand, and walked with her to the taxi. Lorelai seemed to pause—wanting to dart back into The Dragonfly, safe territory; somewhere she could be safe from the sure to be gossip aimed towards her, and strike her, like arrows.

"Mom, it's okay. I doubt that anyone is up. Everything will be fine. Logan is probably waiting for us."

"Fine. Let's go then, before I decide to turn back." Lorelai joined Rory in the taxi, and they were off for the Crap Shack.

* * *

The night was still in Stars Hollow. The traffic light, the only one in town, blinked yellow, much like it did at night when there weren't normally any cars driving around in the town.

All was quiet—Doose's… the bookstore… the park in the middle of town… even Luke's seemed to be dark, desolate, and deserted. _Thank God_, thought Lorelai at the sight of the lifelessness of the town.

"Hey cabbie?" asked Lorelai. She always had wanted to use the word 'cabbie'. It was right up there with the diner talk on the cool-factor scale.

"Yeah, ma'am?" he replied in a semi-annoyed tone.

"Can you turn your headlights off?"

"What for, lady?"

"Um… This town has a no-headlights policy."

"Sure. Whatever, lady." the cab driver said, turning off his lights. _Just in case_, thought Lorelai.

A minute later, the taxi stopped in front of Sookie's house. Lorelai quickly got out and knocked on her door. "Sookie!" she whispered, trying to not wake anyone up. The white oak door opened, and Sookie appeared. "Hey, hun."

"Can I get Paul Anka? You can go back to bed."

"Sure." Sookie said as she disappeared for a second. Lorelai could hear Sookie whisper Paul Anka's name, and they both reappeared. "Thanks Sookie. See you tomorrow."

"Bye sweetie!" Sookie said, waving goodbye to Lorelai. She waved back and rushed Paul Anka into the taxi.

A few minutes later, the taxi pulled up in front of Lorelai's house. Surprisingly, they were not alone. A shadow walked out to the taxi, and opened the door for Lorelai and Rory. The light in the taxi revealed his face; Rory got out ahead of her mother and jumped into a hug with Logan, almost causing him to lose balance. (Which would have been bad, especially with his hurt leg). "Nice to see you too, Ace." said Logan, hugging her tightly and running his hands through her hair. He brushed his lips gently against hers, conveying a loving feeling.

"Can we move this inside?" Lorelai asked, not wanting the light from the taxi to wake up Babette. She knew that if she did, the entire town would know of her arrival before morning. Rory and Logan looked at each other, and chuckled a bit; agreeing that the entire episode should be moved into the house.

Fumbling through her purse, Lorelai found her keys and walked up towards the house. She paused a moment—that darn chuppa was probably mocking her five feet away right now. That darn chuppa that Luke had made her. Luke—there were so many memories just on the outside of the house, now illuminated by a full moon; however, there were even more inside.

Lorelai gathered up the courage to walk up the stairs, unlock the door, and walk into the house. Behind her, Logan followed with his arm around Rory's shoulder. All of their belongings had been extricated from the taxi, which had left, and onto the grass.

For the second time, Lorelai froze. Only this time, she froze in the foyer. Looking around, she could feel the tears coming—tears which she was trying extremely hard to choke back.

Seeing that she wasn't okay when they got into the house, Rory and Logan helped Lorelai up to her bedroom. They helped her lay down on her bed. By the time they had laid her down onto the bed, her body was wracked with painful tears and shaking. Rory kissed her mom's forehead, took Logan's hand, and led him out of the room and downstairs, leaving her mom alone for a few minutes; something that Lorelai greatly needed—a moment alone.

Lorelai looked at the closet through the burning waterfall of tears on her face, and also at the wallpaper rolls along the wall—the wallpaper that Luke had chosen after a long, heated debate. The alternate was the purple wallpaper that she had wanted. Unknown to Luke, Lorelai had still bought the purple wallpaper and had hidden it in the closet—the closet which she was now staring at; the same closet which was getting to her head, and making her sadder than she already was. Lorelai thought that she was ready to come back, but now she thought—no, she knew that she wasn't ready to come back.

Wanting the pain that she was feeling now to go away, Lorelai took off her shoes and curled up with Paul Anka (who had followed them upstairs), and eventually fell asleep.

* * *

"I'm worried about her, Logan. I've never seen my mom like this; not ever. I heard her stop crying, so that is a good sign, right?" Rory said, still holding Logan's hand. She walked with him, noticing that he had gotten better at walking with his cast-laden leg.

"Ace, she'll be okay. Time heals all." He replied, stopping on the stairs and looking her straight in the face. "If you're anything like your mom, then I can say that she's strong. She can get over anything; just like you."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Rory said with a smile.

"You should." Logan replied letting go of Rory's hands and walking down the stairs to get the remainder of the bags. It took him about ten minutes to bring all five of them into the Crap Shack. "Now, why don't we get comfortable, and you can tell me all about London?" Rory said leading him over to the couch.

"What's there to tell?" he replied plopping himself down on the couch, and pulling Rory down with him. "It doesn't matter what it was like. You aren't there—so it doesn't matter. I love you, Ace." He finished as he caressed her cheek.

"I love you too." she replied happily. Both looked at each other lovingly and Logan took her head into his hands. He brought his lips to hers, giving her a kiss that made her go weak at the knees. She returned it, and their kiss began to get deeper and more passionate. Neither wanted to break the kiss, but one of them had to; Rory broke it up, "Not on the couch."

"You're right. Not on the couch" Logan said agreeing with her, looking for a place to have a little fun.

"We can't… your leg. And you need to recuperate. The doctor said no excitement for a while."

"Ace, I'm fine." Logan said giving her a light kiss on her lips and putting his arm around her shoulder. She loved the way Logan's lips felt upon hers. Rory really didn't want him to stop. She craved being near him. "I have a nosy town."

Logan looked at her, "And that means?"

"My town looks for movements in this house… noises… lights… the works."

"And the problem with that is…" he started.

"I… I mean… Mom and I don't want anyone to know that we're back yet."

"Oh. I see. So that means we can't—"

"Exactly. So tell me about London." Rory said resting her head on his shoulder.

"I thought that we've been down this road before."

Rory traced circles on his jacket, "we have. Please? Tell me about the paper. Your apartment… something."

"Well… I have a great view. It's a penthouse. A beautiful view of London Bridge… and some small rose garden. The sunsets are amazing, something you should really see…" Logan looked down at Rory; she was fast asleep. He brushed the brown hair from her face, and gave her a kiss on her forehead. He closed his eyes too, and a few minutes later, they were both fast asleep in each others' arms.

* * *

Sun shone brightly through the windows, signaling that it was morning. Rory opened her eyes and rubbed her eyes, but not without hitting something warm—Logan—and waking him up. From the kitchen wafted an aroma of fresh brewed coffee. It filled her nose, and beckoned her. She got up and sauntered to the kitchen.

Lorelai was sitting at the table with a coffee mug in her hand, staring at her ring… the table… the wall. She looked sad and disgusted at the brown liquid that sat in front of her. "Hey hun."

"Hi. Can I have some?" Rory asked taking the coffee pot from the coffee maker.

"Better not. It's pure poison." Lorelai said making a sour face at her coffee cup.

"I've never heard you talk like that about coffee before." she replied putting down the coffee pot again and taking a seat next to her mom, "I wish that we had Luke's coffee right now. I could use it."

"Sorry, kid. We'll just have to do with the poison for now." Logan walked into the kitchen and gave Rory a quick kiss and took a seat next to Rory and across from Lorelai. "Hi." he said.

"Hi." Rory replied, "you know, Mom, I bet Logan could use some coffee." He cocked his head in confusion. _I could use some coffee_, thought Logan.

"I think that you are right. And he especially doesn't want _our_ coffee."

"Right. He deserves _Luke's_ coffee." Rory said with emphasis on the word Luke's.

Logan spoke tiredly, "What do you guys want?"

"Remember how we didn't want anyone to know that we're back?" Rory said.

"Yes."

"Well, there's this diner that we love to get food from—but the entire town gathers there… so it'd be impossible to not go without noticing. We need our morning fix."

"Ya! Ya!" said Lorelai, hoping that she could get her coffee from Luke's—he was the only one who had the coffee that satisfy her craving—as well as eggs with bacon and chocolate chip pancakes. She had a craving for chocolate chip pancakes—a craving which Rory most likely shared. "So, I'm asking you if you will go get us our morning fix at Luke's. For me… and for my mom, who is in dire need of the coffee. I wouldn't mind some chocolate chip pancakes myself… nobody in this town has seen you yet. So, you can go around unnoticed. What do you say?"

"You owe me." said a groggy Logan getting up to go get dressed, giving Rory one more peck on the forehead.

"Yay! Logan's going to get us breakfast." said Rory getting up and pouring the poisonous coffee that Lorelai had concocted down the drain. "Mom, are you okay?"

"Huh? Breakfast?" Lorelai replied, awaking from almost a trance-like state, "I'm fine." Rory had found that her mom had been slipping in and out of these trance-like states easily throughout the month. "You were so excited for breakfast."

"I am. I like chocolate chip pancakes—I want chocolate chip pancakes. I need coffee. Eggs and bacon wouldn't hurt either. So bring on the breakfast."

"Good. I want the same thing. What's on the list to do today?" Lorelai didn't answer. Logan walked back into the room dressed, with an 'Am I really going to have to do this' look on his face, "Do I really have to do this?"

Rory walked up to him, "Yes. It's a personal favor. And remember, I owe you." She said, playing with his shirt.

"Fine. I'll go," he said, Rory smiling and giving him a kiss and returning to her seat, "What do you guys want?"

The two girls looked at each other, nodded, and smiled at their breakfast orders, Lorelai spoke first, "Two orders of chocolate chip pancakes with eggs and bacon. Two extra large coffees. Oh, and maybe a muffin or a doughnut each." Logan sighed.

"Logan," Rory said as he was turning to leave, "don't forget to get breakfast too." She gave him one last kiss and he walked out the door.

* * *

Logan walked out the white oak front door and out into the morning sun. It was a beautiful morning. He walked down the pathway from Rory and Lorelai's house, and started towards the center of the town.

Rory had told him that Stars Hollow was a nosy town, buthe hadn't expected anyone to be out at that time of the morning (7:15 AM); a very reason why he didn't see Babette crouching in the bushes (probably taking up residence there after hearing the door open and close in a house that hadn't had any activity for a month). Like any good mole, she ran quickly back into the house to deliver her information—and to call Patty. The news that there was somebody coming out of Lorelai's house would be around town in fifteen minutes at the most.

A thought came to Logan's mind. He didn't know where Luke's was. _It's a small town_, he thought, _it can't be that hard to find_. Rory hadn't told him where this diner was. He'd heard all about it—but she'd never told him any detail about where it was. He continued on his walk to the center of town, surprised that so many Stars Hollowians were up at 7:30 AM. There, on a corner was Luke's Diner. _I was right; it's not that hard to find_. With a smirk on his face, Logan walked to the door and went inside.

"Take a seat wherever you want." somebody said as Logan walked into the diner. He recognized the voice—it was Luke, Lorelai's fiancée; or fiancée of a month ago. But clearly, nobody wanted to bring that up. Who could blame them?

Logan did what Luke told him to, and took a seat anywhere; anywhere happened to be at the counter. Luke walked out using one crutch with the arm that wasn't in a sling. It looked like he had hurt his ankle and wrist badly. "What can I get you?" Luke asked him.

"What do you have?" Logan replied. This shocked Luke and anyone sitting around Logan. Almost nobody asked that question—or at least nobody in Stars Hollow. Luke handed him a menu, "You new around here?" _He looks familiar_, thought Luke. He grabbed a two glasses of water, one for Logan and the other for himself. The Vicadin that he had taken a half hour earlier had made him thirsty. It was also making him a bit loopy in the head, which was probably the reason why he could not directly place Logan's familiar face.

"I'm just staying for a while," Logan said not sure if he wanted to hint that Lorelai and Rory were back. _If I hint at all, I wont be lucky for a while_, he thought. "I'm um… helping a friend for a few days. Then I have to fly back to London. Looks like you got hurt." Logan perused the menu, finding that a Denver omelet with bacon sounded good.

"Oh. This," Luke laughed, "I broke a dish, tripped, or something like that."

"I think I'm ready to order."

"Okay, what can I get 'cha?"

"The Denver omelet with bacon and an extra large coffee, and two orders of chocolate chip pancakes, eggs, bacon, and two extra large coffees," Logan counted off on his fingers trying to remember all that Lorelai and Rory had told him, "oh, and two doughnuts and two muffins."

_That's a lot of food. This guy eats like Lorelai and Rory_. "Coming right up." the diner proprietor said, getting Logan his coffee in a chipped green mug. None of the mugs matched. "So, you're here to help your friend?" Luke wasn't normally chatty, but for some reason, he was with this guy.

"Yeah," Logan tried to think of a viable excuse to why he was here. _The house_, he thought and continued with the conversation, "I'm just trying to finish a few things up for her. For the past month she stayed out at Martha's Vineyard… I went and paid her a visit a few days ago. Her mom… she got her heart broken by some shmuck of a fiancée. I feel bad for her, but if she's anything like my girlfriend, she'll get over it—but it doesn't look like it's going to be soon."

"I wish you luck with that." Luke said, thinking hard to where he saw Logan. _It's these damn painkillers_. _I hate the way they make me feel_. _If I wasn't on them, I could recognize his face. I've never been good at faces. I feel like he's trying to tell me something…_ "Here's your food." he said handing the plates to Logan.

"Um… can I get those to go?" Logan asked munching on a piece of his bacon.

"Sure…" Luke replied. He watched Logan check his watch—an expensive watch, probably a Rolex.

The gossips of the town suddenly flooded the diner. All saw the new blonde man sat at the counter dressed in a black leather jacket, jeans, and some shirt underneath with a cast on one of his ankles. Patty was the first to reach him, followed by Babette, Taylor, and Kirk. "Hi sweetie." Patty said in her normal mellow tone to the man.

He put down his piece of bacon as Luke sat his take-out bags on the counter next to him. "Um… Hi?"

"Got a name on you, hot stuff?" asked Babette pushing her way to the front with Babette.

"Yeah. Logan." _That name is extremely familiar—isn't that Rory's boyfriend?_ thought Luke. He stood there and let his inhibited mind run over that speculation for a few minutes.

"Well, sweetie, where 'ya stayin'?" asked Patty.

"Um… Some old house. I think its owner called it the 'Crap Shack'." said Logan, a bit afraid of the crowd around him. _He's staying in Lorelai's house?_ Luke thought, adding it to the many thoughts racing through his mind.

"That's Lorelai's house." said Babette, familiar with the name.

"I hope that you have the proper papers for rental, young man. Or else I'm going to have to ask you to come with me."

"Whoa. Who said I was renting it?" Logan asked, now starting in on his omelet.

"Well, Lorelai's not back, so we just assumed…" Taylor said, taking a step back.

"I'm just staying there for a few days. Lorelai said I could." he replied. _Lorelai said he could?_, another thought entering Luke's mind. Now the four made a semi-circle around him.

"So you know Lorelai, sweetie?"

"Yes. I do." _She's Rory's mom_, Logan silently added.

"So, are you going to tell us how?" asked Taylor and Patty.

"Let me think about this—hmmm. No. I'm not." Logan put down two twenty dollar bills, grabbed the to-go bags and coffee cups and walked through the mini-crowd and out of the diner back to Lorelai and Rory's house.

After Logan had walked out of the diner, and the gossips (or freaks as Luke called them) had dissipated, Luke thought harder. His mind rolled over everything he'd heard. _He's staying at Lorelai's._

_He knows Lorelai… which means that he probably knows Rory._

_He walked out of here with two bags of food and two coffees…._

_His name is Logan. _

_Logan… Martha's Vineyard… Rory… _

_There's only one conclusion…_ "He's Rory's boyfriend!" Luke said out loud—probably a bit louder than he should have. The gossips, residing at a corner table heard him, and rushed over. "What did you say Luke?" He waved them off, and yelled back to Caesar that he'd be back in a few minutes. Slowly, he hobbled as best as he could out of the diner and off towards Lorelai's house.

Caesar heard him leave and came out to take care of the diner while he was gone. "I always have to pick up his slack." Caesar exasperatingly said, getting tired of Luke disappearing so frequently. _I should be paid more_, he thought walking to take an order.

* * *

It took Logan about five minutes to walk back to the house. "I'm back! Come get the food!" he yelled closing the door. He saw Rory running out from the kitchen, Lorelai walking behind her. "Food!" Rory yelled, taking the bags from Logan and planting a generous kiss on the lips, "You're our savior. We should build a statue for you."

"She's right. We should," Lorelai seemed to be in a better mood with the sight of food, not much, but she had a bit more of her trademark wit this morning, "where should we build it?"

"Right here in the living room, so all can see who brought us food to save our stomachs."

"Ya!Ya!" said Lorelai, quickly running to the kitchen with her steal of food. Rory quickly followed in pursuit, acting like a robber who had jewels instead of breakfast in the bag. Logan walked behind them, in wonder of how protective they were of their spoils. _Stealing a fry from them would probably be a bad idea_, he thought. He chuckled a bit. _Lorelai and Rory love food_. But he already knew that.

Upon entrance into the kitchen, Logan took a seat in one of the chairs at the table. They were uncomfortable chairs. From Rory and Lorelai's addictions to food that is less than good for you, Logan guessed that they probably didn't see much use. "Food good." said Lorelai in-between bites. Rory and Logan to laugh a bit.

"So, Mom, what are we doing today?" Rory said finishing the last bite of her pancakes. Lorelai gave a shrug in reply and went back to her food. She eyed the doughnut and the muffin—_which one should I choose?_, she wondered, _if I eat the doughnut, the muffin will be lonely, so Rory would have to eat the doughnut too, so that it wouldn't be lonely either...doughnut it is then. _"Let's eat the doughnuts!" said Lorelai. Rory nodded in agreement.

"I'll let you guys enjoy your breakfasts." Logan said getting up to leave. Rory caught his arm, "No, don't leave. Stay. Tell us about your trip to Luke's."

"Hmm... what's there to say? I almost got beat up by four of your neighbors..."

"Taylor, Babette, Patty, and Kirk?" Rory guessed. Lorelai nodded in agreement.

"And Luke... he looked like he was in bad shape. His arm was in a sling and he was walking around with one crutch."

"Poor Luke!" Rory gasped. Lorelai shrugged, _He deserved it. Wait—no. That's mean. He did deserve it, but I'd never want him to get hurt_.

"That's pretty much it. Your town must not see very many new people does it?"

"Not really." said Rory, smiling a bit behind her coffee mug.

"Oh, and the town thinks that I'm packing up your house," he said, and Rory smiled wider.

* * *

Normally what would have been a five minute walk to Lorelai's house took fifteen. Luke was frustrated at walking with a crutch; he felt like he'd never get used to it. He'd come close to throwing the crutch a few times. Everyone knew that Luke wasn't the most patient of people. His temper had been on edge for the last few days: learning how to get around when injured AND June 3rd coming and going... most people knew that it wasn't a good time to cross Luke's path. Well, not if you wanted to come out unscathed.

Finally, he was at her house. Now it was the path to her house that was proving problematic. _Great. Gravel_, thought Luke. It was a new challenge—there wasn't anymore flat pavement. He really didn't like change—or new challenges. Despite that, Luke continued up the walk.

If there was one thing that Luke hated more than gravel right now, it was stairs. Stairs were evil. He leaned his crutch up against the railing on the porch (that he had fixed countless times) and looked around the yard. There was the chuppa—the chuppa that he had made for Lorelai (he didn't know quite why)—sitting five feet from the pathway, but Lorelai's jeep was gone. It confused Luke, but he carried on, clunking up the stairs one at a time, each one with a wince.

Once he got to the door, Luke hesitated. _What now?_, he thought, _Open it, you idiot._ Luke reached down to get the key out of the turtle and unlock the door.

* * *

Lorelai and Rory had finally finished their breakfasts. They had consumed a large amount of food—more than Logan could ever eat, making him wonder if they had bottomless stomachs. Rory had cleaned up all of the bags and thrown them away.

"Hey Ror, I'm going to take a bath." said Lorelai leaving the kitchen and heading upstairs.

"Okay, Mom." she replied. Now Logan and Rory were left alone. "So..."

"So... what?"

"We're alone now."

"When has that ever been a problem?" Logan asked her, bringing her close to him. He brought his lips to hers, and the kiss just got deeper from there. Their tongues clashed in each others mouths, and Logan's hands found their way underneath Rory's shirt. She started unbuttoning his shirt. "We should really stop..." she said taking a break from the kiss for air.

"We should..." Logan said moving onto kissing her neck gently. She wrapped her arms around Logan's neck. He leaned her back, to give her another knee-weakening kiss on the lips when the front door suddenly opened. "Lorelai!" the voice yelled. Immediately Rory recognized it and Logan recognized it too. _Crap_, they thought at the same time. A pseudo-panic released, and not realizing what he was doing, Logan let go of Rory who fell to the floor. "Ouch!" she said, hitting the hardwood flooring, "What did you do that for?"

"I... Sorry, Ace." Logan apologized while helping her up.

"Did I just hear what I think I heard?" she asked him. Rory took note of the heavy footsteps coming towards the kitchen. If Rory was slightly panicked by the sound of Luke approaching, she and Logan couldn't imagine what Lorelai was feeling at the moment. Along with the footsteps of Luke approaching, she heard a door close upstairs—most likely her mother's bathroom.

"Why are we just standing here?" Rory asked Logan, who shrugged in reply. "Go!" Logan whispered with force, and they retreated into the sparse pantry, closing the door.

* * *

Luke finally made his appearance in the kitchen; he stopped and took in the entire scene. There was nobody in the room. It was deserted, but the food was eaten on the table. Somebody had defiantly been here.

In the pantry, Logan and Rory had to hold back their laughter with as much force as they could muster. "What are we going to do now?"

"Why don't we make the best out of a bad situation?" he asked, moving towards her and brushing her lips with his.

"What if he finds us?" she whispered back.

"For all he knows, nobody's home." She reciprocated, giving him a more passionate kiss. They stopped for a moment and heard Luke's footsteps coming closer to the pantry door. "Ace, hide behind that shelf, and stay close to the wall." She nodded in compliance and flattened herself against the wall behind the tallest shelf's end. Logan turned on the light and made it look as if he was alphabetizing the cans and boxes, of which there were few. The door was finally pulled open.

"Logan?"

"Hi Luke… just organizing these cans—seeing what I need to buy over the next few days. You know, just housekeeping stuff." He walked out of the pantry, turned the light off, and shut the door.

"Cut the crap, Logan. Where is Rory?"

"Rory? She's up at Yale. I just visited her the other day. Very pleasant conversation. We had shrimp for lunch."

"She's here," Luke's anger rose, "there's too much food there for one person, and you don't eat like a Gilmore."

"How would you know? Luke, I can honestly say that she's not anywhere in this room."

"Uh-huh," the Vicadin was making his blood boil a bit more than he wanted it to, "Now, cut the crap and tell me where she is. She's here and her mother's here too. I really need to talk to Lorelai. Tell me where she is… or else."

"I haven't seen her lately," replied Logan, stretching the meaning of 'lately'. He suspected that Rory was listening on the other side of the door.

"That's it. I can't stand this anymore," Luke said as he released the crutch and cuffed Logan, sending him backwards into the table. "Damnit. Logan?" He mentally slapped himself, he hadn't meant to lose his temper, but over the past few weeks, his level of self-control over his anger had become virtually non-existent, and the town knew this. _It was his fault for getting in my way_, thought Luke as he left, deciding that he'd be back later. As he left, there was a look of utter desolation upon his face.

* * *

In the pantry, Rory had resorted to the trick that Lane taught her in the third grade: peeping through a keyhole. She watched the entire exchange. Logan was trying really hard not to hint on that the Gilmore girls were home. He kept it up until Luke knocked him back into the dining room table. Logan was always the strongest of the men she knew, but Luke had cuffed him unexpectedly. When the blow hit, she could hear herself whisper, "Damnit," rather loudly, and immediately cover her mouth.

The Luke she knew wasn't the Luke she saw walk out of the kitchen. That Luke was kind, caring, funny on occasion, loving, and compassionate. This Luke was dark, depressed, aggressive, impatient, and violent. She was glad that she agreed to stay in the pantry, though she knew that Luke wouldn't hurt her. He never would. He wouldn't hurt her mother either. Rory didn't think that he would hurt a fly, and that's what was so surprising about him decking Logan. After she was sure he was gone, she rushed out of the pantry and to Logan, who sat beneath the tipped table with a bit of Denver omelet in his hair. "Ace, what just happened?"

"You got socked by Luke because you wouldn't tell him where I was. You have your breakfast in your hair." She brushed it off and helped him up.

"I don't want to be around when he comes back."

"I wonder what will happen if he sees Mom."

"Don't know, but I doubt that he'll hurt her. If you'd been out here, I think that he probably would have broken down at the sight of you." He stood and brushed himself off, "I'm fine. Go check on your mom." Rory left the room and headed up the stairs.

* * *

**I hope you liked it... I decided to show how lost Luke was without Lorelai. I'm open to ideas, and I'll update soon. Drop me a review, por favor! Make my day:D**


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